"The ongoing 49th HK Fashion Week which opened yesterday has introduced a new ‘Corporate Fashion and Uniforms’ zone. Lawrence Laung, Chairman, Garment Advisory Committee, HKTDC, points out while the world is struggling with pricing, there are new areas which can be focused on. Hong Kong, an important trade center in global textile and clothing and accessories space, clocked in business worth $13.2 billion from January to November, 2017, a drop of 7.7 per cent over previous year during the same period and imported worth $11.3 billion during the same period, reflecting a drop of 5.7 per cent."

The ongoing 49th HK Fashion Week which opened yesterday has introduced a new ‘Corporate Fashion and Uniforms’ zone. Lawrence Laung, Chairman, Garment Advisory Committee, HKTDC, points out while the world is struggling with pricing, there are new areas which can be focused on. Hong Kong, an important trade center in global textile and clothing and accessories space, clocked in business worth $13.2 billion from January to November, 2017, a drop of 7.7 per cent over previous year during the same period and imported worth $11.3 billion during the same period, reflecting a drop of 5.7 per cent.

However, presently, Hong Kong faces numerous challenges with escalating costs of production, manufacturing has moved to nearby regions of Mainland China and other low cost countries. Now, Hong Kong is repositioning itself as a one stop sourcing hub and solution provider with all kinds of design services.

Lawrence explains, while the global economy is not very strong as of now, competing countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh etc, are offering low cost manufacturing facilities.

Moreover, Chinese ports are doing a good job in terms of efficiency and all these together have led to a drop in HK’s exports. He feels, the dip in exports may continue but emphasizes Hong Kong doesn’t need to struggle over prices as corporate fashion and uniforms is an emerging and less focused area. Hong Kong’s services industry contributes as much as 90 per cent towards its GDP. So there is a lot of potential in this sector.

Banny Hu, Chairman HK Apparel Society goes on to add, in Macao there are casinos employing as many as 10,000 people, and all of them need uniforms. Likewise there are many service industry sectors. No country as focuses on the uniform sector, there are no platforms or exhibitions catering to this sector. We are looking to boosting our image in corporate fashion.

Along with Corporate Fashion and Uniforms zone, there is another new zone World of Fashion Accessories in this edition. Lawrence says, the new features such as FashionAlly Presentation set up in story telling narrative with theatre lighting is drawing a good response.

The 49th Hong Kong Fashion Week is being held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The show is being organized by Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and is on from January 15 to 18, 2018.